Passionate Oil Painter – Simon Birch

Simon Birch paints like everything else he does in life – with passion. The faces on his subjects are intense, yet non-specific in their expression, leaving viewers to their own subjective interpretation.

Born in Brighton, England, Simon left the UK to spend time traveling through Australia before relocating to Hong Kong in the mid-nineties.

Birch describes himself as an artist immersed in street and eastern culture, a catalyst for many forms of creativity, an artist reacting to the fragmented perception of the everyday world, saturated with images. Inspiration for his paintings may be triggered by the smallest detail – a color, face, texture, sound, or song. Once he has that spark, he begins painting as soon as possible, compulsively, often for days at a time with little or no rest.

Delicate and detailed, the tiny floral tattoos of Toronto-based artist Lindsay Asselstine are whimsical works of art. Asselstine—who goes by Lindsay April on social media—is known for her simple, sketch-like style and nature-inspired pieces, ranging from miniature portraits of pets and animals to dainty depictions of flowers and foliage. As an artist at Toronto’s Golden Iron Tattoo Studio, April is often commissioned for her expertly executed flora-and-fauna creations.

Japanese Twitter user @thumb_tani (aka Tanu) has mastered the art of balance. He uses his keen sense of equilibrium to create small, fascinating sculptures from carefully-positioned coins. Although many of us have probably attempted this same sort of coin stacking, Tanu takes these arrangements to a whole new—and totally epic—level. Using a variety of denominations, Tanu creates intricate structures that range in shape and size. Often, he’ll first build a strong base using staggered coins.